Rabbits, Dragons & Lion Hearts
by ruffledparasol
Summary: Gryffindor, Emma Swan is a 2nd year when she starts seeing a little black rabbit appearing all over the castle. Deciding to follow it, Emma quickly finds herself right in the middle of all of the mysterious happenings at school. And it's up to her, and sworn enemy, Slytherin Head Girl Regina Mills, to save the entire magical race from the threat of extinction! Swan Queen endgame
1. Midnight Encounters

_**Bonjour all!**_** So you may have hear tell of this particular story before. Yes, my counterpart had done me a great service in writing up the first drafts, however I am thrilled to say that it is finally ready for posting (i believe that's how you say it in your vernacular?!)! Anywhoo, my darling Biffy and I are to blame souly (no pun intended) for any mistakes. If you spot one, do be a dear and leave a comment so we can fix it! Or if you love it, leave a comment as well! All praise welcome! And if you do not understand my accent, please read my profile, it should help make sense of me!**

_**Disclaimer: I do not own Once Upon A Time, Harry Potter or magic... but I was there to witness these events, therefore everything here is based off us true stories. **_

**Set in HP canon year 3, Prisioner of Askaban, everything else you'll have to read to find out!**

**RuffledParasol**

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><p>Midnight Encounters<p>

The gas lights crackled against the backdrop of the stone walls bouncing dim light down through the library wing. The second year Emma Swan sat perched in her favorite nook tucked back in the corner staring out over the massive Whomping Willow. It was late and judging by the steady downpour and the darkness that engulfed the grounds from under her watch through the window it was later than she should be out. But the young Gryffindor hadn't been able to put down her book down nor move a muscle since she had entered the library straight after her last class with the giant Hagrid. The theories on dragons and dragon riders had her astounded and currently with her head stuck in _"Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them."_

_That's the one!_ The blonde perked up after hours of searching cover to cover she had located the most interesting and rarest of all dragons that they had talked about in their brief overview, the Hungarian Horntail. Her overly large and equally loveable professor had only barely mentioned them before disregarding the topic completely. If it hadn't have been for the Weasley girl asking about them - Ginny, Emma recalled from meeting her earlier after realizing they were in the same year- the giant might not have even spoken another word about them at all!

With her nose so far into the old pages of the book she missed the faint pitter-patter of small footsteps approaching her secret spot.

The rain turned from a drizzle to an outright storm against the window pain as Emma devoured every word about the sensation of riding a Horntail. She didn't care about the dimensions of the bronze spikes that cloaked their tails or the scalding heat of their breath that could turn stones red in a matter of seconds. No, she was only interested in the few special cases of wizards actually managing to ride the fearsome beasts. As she flipped the page, a book crashed to her right.

A large jagged shadow overtook the spot where the candle light had been providing a glow for the second year to read. Emma let out a scream, her natural instinct to fight taking over as she raised her fists before thinking of grabbing her wand. Realizing that she had left her second hand 9 inch dragon heartstring wand with her book bag, she scurried to her feet spotting a small figure by the fallen books.

"Ahh! Crookshanks! You scared me-" but what appeared from behind the scattered Transfiguration books was not the orange colored kneazle Emma had expected, but a small rabbit. Nearly blending in with the dark, the tiny black bunny with long whiskers stopped, as if hoping not to have been caught and remain hiding behind the mess.

It's big dark eyes were trained on the Gryffindor almost as if they were studying her.

Emma had seen all types of house pets over her first year at Hogwarts, some in her house even kept rats, but she had never seen a rabbit the likes of this one. With her breath regained from the momentary scare, the blonde squatted down.

"You're a long way from home," she grunted, her blonde curls cascading around her face as she neared the rabbit.

The hare continued to stare almost as if in a trance as the blonde reached out for it. As soon as Emma's hands touched the soft fur though, the rabbit jumped back as if awoken from its momentary state of trance. The miniature hare scurried off, leaving the confused Gryffindor alone yet again in the cold library.

The sound of the rain on the glass windows brought the blonde back to her senses realizing that the night was late and the hours of her second year curfew were long since past. Wanting to avoid the trouble of being caught and her secret place being discovered, she silently went to her nook collecting her bag and stuffed the mythical book inside.

xxx

Deciding to skip the stone bridge due to the heavy downpour outside, Emma rounded the corner to make her way to the covered viaduct.

Her boot covered shoes echoed lightly on the stone floors under her robes as she walked through the empty halls. Emma always thought the castle was so peaceful at night. What with the Chamber of Secrets being opened open her first year she had rarely taken the chance to be out by herself past hours. But this year she was determined to get to know the ins and outs of the school in which she had found herself longing to call home.

Progressing towards the bridge, the Gryffindor steered clear of the bathroom now referred to as "Moaning Myrtle's" and opted to take the long way past Ravenclaw tower.

Coming around the bust of Rowena Ravenclaw, Emma didn't hear the muffled sounds of close voices echoing throughout the halls until a hand reached out and grabbed her from behind. Emma began to let out a yelp, but before she could find her voice a gloved hand covered her mouth pulling her behind the stone bust.

In a matter of seconds the blonde riggled her hands free of her perpetrators grasp and rounded, ready to hex them with whatever spell came to her mind. However, in doing so, the grasp on her arm slacked immensely followed by a hushing sound coming from her grabbers voice. Emma looked up, recognizing the armed grabber as none other than fellow Gryffindor and prefect, Killian Jones. Emma froze, a white pang of fear shot through her as she realized she had been caught much later after hours than excusable, with her book bag no less containing unchecked out library books. Every cell in her body trembled in fear as she saw her expulsion from the school looming, followed by the removal of her from the grounds and cutting off from any and everything she ever knew about magic. With a little dose of desperation the blonde tried to speak to explain herself, but was silenced as the older boy put his gloved hand over her mouth, covering it yet again.

With some struggle, she released herself enough to breathe as the tall crepuscular prefect looked down at her. Emma still didn't understand how the stubbled faced boy had become a prefect. Just like everyone, she knew he copied off of the gaunt scrawny kid in Potions class - Rumplestiltskin if she recalled right. The scrawny boy was unnervingly small, unhealthily so, everytime Emma laid eyes on him he looked thinner, but it didn't seem to bother him, he only had eyes for the pretty brunette Hufflepuff at the front of class.

Emma only knew so because she had had to spend a week in that so called Potions class, rewriting a 15 foot scroll essay that she had neglected the first time because of Quidditch tryouts. She had skipped her class, asking her lupine-like friend Ruby to cover for her, and copied the girls essay to turn in. Needless to say Professor Snape, no matter how much he resemble a snake that had fallen in a vat of unfortunate hair grease, was like a hawk and had caught her deception within a moments notice. And it was there in her detention that she had noticed the prefect boy throwing magically augmented paper planes at the back of the scraggly boys head whenever he dozed off staring at the brunette girl.

One particular day of her detention the Gryffindors eyes had glazed over as she had gotten stuck rereading the same line of parchment, when the heavy dungeon door to the Potions classroom swung open in medias res of one of Professor Snapes diatribes against an unknown Hufflepuff. Her head snapped up at the disruption, as did everyone else's, to stare at the newcomer who dared to enter the class late.

Emma's breath stopped as she caught sight of the girl that was stood at the end of the long hallway. She had seen the girl around the castle multiple times before, for she was prefect and the only 5th year to ever be head girl of Slytherin house, but had never caught wind of her name.

The older girl was stunning, her long dark brunette-black hair perfectly styled, half pinned up, ending in a loose curl around the middle of her back. Her emerald and black robes nearly glistened in the dungeon light. The way they clung to her figure spoke volumes of how expensive they must be. Judging by the way the light reflected off of them Emma assumed they must be made of some heavy fabric.

'_Velvet_,' the second year thought aloud, then aptly covered her mouth. All eyes in the room were trained on the Slytherin head girl. Emma realized that the professor must have spoken as, multiple sets of widened eyes now bounced back and forth between the two opposing forces. Emma gulped, finding herself drawn to the scene but completely unaware of what was being said, all she caught was a, "sorry I'm late," from the brunette.

Then all of a sudden, the older girl was walking down the aisle of the classroom, taking a seat next to the recently ridiculed Hufflepuff, pulling out some parchment, ink and quills from her Slytherin emblazoned bag.

Emma gasped in surprise, not only was she entering halfway through lecture, but the 5th year brunette had taken up camp in the middle of a distinctly 6th year class! However, to her astonishment, Professor Snape only seemed momentarily stupefied before he continued on with his denunciation of the blushing 'Puff boy.

The second year stared at the Slytherin prefect the whole rest of the class, not noticing until everyone had gotten up to leave that from behind her the stubbled faced Gryffindor boy had been staring all the same.

The same boy who was stood in front of her now, holding her mouth as to keep her from speaking. It was only moments later that she realized he was trying to say something to her.

"Do you understand? Don't speak or we both will get caught," the lightly bearded boy spat.

Emma nodded her head in agreement. The moment she felt his gloved hand slide from her mouth she let in a gasp of air earning a sharp look from the 6th year prefect.

Regaining somewhat of normalcy in her breathing, the blonde whispered, "What are you doing out here so late? I thought prefects were supposed to be rule followers."

"Never you mind," the boy shot back before he hushed himself as much as her and dragged her further behind the bust.

"Look, I've caught you way past sleeping hours and on the other side of the castle no less, so it's you who should be worried not I. But right now we've both got bigger problems if anyone overhears us, so stay quite and you might escape this alive." He whispered.

"Escape wha-" but as soon as the second year began her thought she heard the tell tale whisper of hushed voices coming from around the other side of the Ravenclaw bust. There were two distinct voices, one male one female. Emma could swear she recognized the cadence and amber tone of the females yet she couldn't figure why. But as soon as she heard them they stopped, dropping to an even lower hum. Whoever it was on the opposite side of the hall near Ravenclaw tower did not want to be caught just as much as the prefect before her didn't want to be seen breaking rules. However when the voices seemed to pick up again, the Jones boy took a chance and glanced around from their hiding spot. When he didn't immediately pull back Emma followed, peeking from behind the large stone bust to see the outline of what appeared to be one of the 6th year Ravenclaw boys from the Quidditch team. He had sandy blonde hair that was combed over nicely to one side, however it hung almost loosely on him, giving him an outdoors look along with his black and blue robes. For a moment she thought it to be Cedric Diggory, before she realized it was one of his best mates but for the life of her she couldn't recall his name.

Just then the other unnamed voice came into view and the blondes stomach flipped. There, stood out long past midnight and far away from her sleeping quarters, was none other than the stunning Slytherin head girl.

"Regina Mills," came a faint growl from beside her.

"Huh-" she mumbled almost inaudibly.

"Escape Regina Mills,. That would be her over their talking to that Locksley punk long after hours. I've been following her for weeks waiting to get something on her and I've finally figured out her vices and I will not lose this chance to exploit her once and for all because of you." The older boy barked roughly into her ear.

Mills, she knew that name. Of course! The prefect brunette girl was none other than the Lady Mills daughter. Everyone knew of her high standing and power in the Ministry of Magic what with her generous funding and luxurious charity balls. But few knew anything more of her daughter except that she was born to the legendary Cora Mills, and a half-blood at that. However that fact was hardly ever exposed or discussed. Emma however was privy to the knowledge due to her hours sitting in the back of the library back home by her orphanage, where she over heard many conversations from unknowing passers byers.

In this moment, all that she had learned about the girl suddenly started to make sense as the older boys words suddenly clicked in her head, "Wait why?"

"Never you mind your pretty little head lass," the 6th year responded. It was in that moment that Emma decided that she did not like being referred to as 'lass' nor 'pretty' as she was pretty sure he had meant it in a derogatory way.

"Well I've seen enough," the Gryffindor prefect whispered, pulling out his wand. Instantly sparks ignited from the tip, shooting off around the bust and clanging against the stone walls.

Emma whipped her head back round as the the Mills girl and Locksley boy suddenly jumped from their spots close together in front of the Ravenclaw tower entrance, looking frantically for a place to hide. In a rush, the Slytherin prefect and the Ravenclaw chaser, looked breathlessly at each other before taking off in opposite directions towards their respective houses.

When the pair had vacated their standing place, the lightly bearded Gryffindor prefect stepped out from behind the Ravenclaw bust, dragging the blonde along with him.

"Well now I get to question as to why you find yourself out here in the middle of the night?" he spoke rounding on her.

"I won't tell if you won't tell." Emma heaved breathesley.

The older boy smirked, a bushy eyebrow shooting up on his thin angular face.

"Deal."

xxx

The walk back to the Gryffindor common room was full of silence. Every time that Emma tried to ask the Jones boy why he had been out, or why he had been stalking the famed Regina Mills he shut her down with a harsh reminder that he could still get her a detention due to 'harassing a prefect.'

The moment the image of the Fat Lady's portrait appeared from behind the moving staircases leading to the secret entrance of Gryffindor common room, Emma knew something was wrong. The large seat that housed the unusually large lady who personified the phrase 'when the fat lady sings' was empty, the lady in question no where to be found. The second year looked from portrait to portrait as all of the residences of nearby pictures looked back at them in horror. It was then when Emma noticed that she and the Jones boy were not alone in the hallway.

Swarming around them were the faces of her fellow classmates and Gryffindors all lined up outside the portrait concealing the doorway. She found herself and the prefect next to her being distanced as she was swallowed into the belly of the crowd. The nervous energy was electric as it made its way through the onslaught of terrified Gryffindors.

She turned, nearly tripping as the mass thickened. It was only then when she caught a glimpse of the unmistakable red streaks in her best friends hair across the sea of bodies.

Rubys large mouth was open wide in horror showcasing her large wolf like teeth. Emma pushed her way through the throng of pajama clad students, thankful that no one had noticed that only her and Killian were still dressed in their house robes.

"Red!" She yelled over the heads of some first years.

"Emma?!"

The svelte brunette turned, her neck craned, lifting her nose as if she were sniffing out a scent, eyes flicking through the crowd until they locked on the blonde in question.

"Red!" the blonde called using the nickname she had given her best friend in their first year. When the girl had accidentally singed the tips of her long hair in a potion, turning them red for a whole month, the name had stuck. And when she decided to keep the color permanently via bright bold streaks she nearly gave her elderly grandmother a heart attack when she went home over break. "What's going on?!"

"Oh Emma!" The girl grasped onto her, "Didn't you hear? The Fat Ladies gone missing!"

"How?" Was all the blonde could think to ask.

Suddenly the lot began to split apart, the two second year friends grasped a hold of each other as to not lose one another in the fuss. From behind came the Headmaster of the school, Albus Dumbledore, followed closely by his right hand help, Mr. Filch.

The two girls watched as the head of the school made his way through the crowd followed by his lackey, to apex of the scene where the singing fat woman was nowhere to be found. There was some mumble about a dog with dark eyes, a horrid scraping noise and a 'Sirius Black'. Then Emma spotted her fellow Gryffindor, Harry Potter at the front of the crowd. The masses had moved to follow the headmaster where he now stood in front of the new portrait containing the fat lady hiding behind a large hippopotamus. All of a sudden, the giant pack began to move again, back towards the common room entrance. Apparently all were being sent to bed as it was long past sleep hours and the door to the secret entrance was open again. Emma shuffled along, letting the momentum of the group carry her. She only got a glimpse out of the corner of her eye of the small figure perched at the edge of the crowd, unnoticed by most in the commotion. But there behind the common room door was the small rabbit that had been in library an hour before.


	2. The Raven Haired Girl

**_Expelliarmus!_**** Aha! Hermione would be so proud that I have been keeping up on my spell work!**

**Before I continue, a big thank you to all who have been reading! However, I think it best to shed some light on a particular thing - in regards to Regina's status as Prefect and Head Girl, I am taking a liberty - this was due to an idea I had of imagining Regina in school and thinking that she would definitely be Queen Bee, ASB President, head cheerleader and the leader of the debate team because that would be what her mother would expect of her. So when it came to this, I wanted her to be more than the norm. If you follow my friend Harry Potter's stories, you'll notice that you're not supposed to be a prefect until your 7th year. I wanted her to be the exception because I felt if anyone would be, it would be Regina - daughter of Cora Mills. So if that throws you, so sorry ****_plumdrop_****! **

**This chapter is shorter, quite frankly because Biffy told me to cut out all of the extra fluff. I know, that's rich coming from a dandy like him! **(If you want them longer, please comment!)

**Let me know your thoughts, and if I mess up HP cannon feel free to comment - however I will not accept any earwax flavored beans along with! (Just chocolate frogs please!) All mistakes are entirely our own!**

_**RuffledParasol**_

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><p>The Raven Haired Girl<p>

The blonde second year wasn't sure whether she was freezing cold or burning hot. The stormy rain pelted down on her causing goose bumps to rise on her pale skin. But the thick hand me down robes she wore were like a burning inferno causing her to sweat buckets under the heavy garb.

She grasped at her hood, pulling the edges closer around her face as she made her way through the muddy grounds.

It had been a few weeks after the night where she had learned the tall Slytherin prefects name. Regina. And yet in those few weeks to follow she had seen little to nothing of the girl Mills girl. However she had seen increasingly more and more of the boy in which the swarthy brunette had been talking to.

She had tried to deny what she was doing, but she had subconsciously taken it upon herself to find out as much about him as she could. His name was Robin Locksley. Best friend of Cedric Diggory. Ravenclaws best chaser and part time hunstman as he came back with hats and scarves made of small animals skins.

He was always out in the woods, Emma had noticed upon her many treks about the school grounds, venturing out to the edges of the forbidden forest. This particular rainy day, the second year was making her way to her favorite Care of Magical Creatures class when she noticed the boy making his way to the edge of the forest. She immediately perched herself behind the large rocks above the grounds keepers hut and watched as the boy made his way, unnoticed by all, to the forest beyond. The deep green of his pants and vest blended in with the foliage. Then as soon as he stepped foot into the thicket he promptly turned around, trudging his way back up the hill.

Emma stood confused until she realized that his projectory was heading straight to her hiding spot behind the large boulder. She darted, heading down the opposite side of the hill just before the boy could catch sight of her.

"Em!" Came the voice of her best friend, Ruby Lucas. "Where've you been? And why are you out of breath, that's normally my game."

The blonde heaved as she caught up to the thin brunette standing in the mass of students waiting to go into the forest where the giant held his classes.

"I was out-" She replied, breathing still ragged as she had ran faster than her borrowed Moontrimmer broom could go on steroids, "Rubes, I just saw the weirdest thing-"

But before she could finish the harsh whisper of her friend cut her off, "Well it'll have to wait since you're late butt got us to the back of the line!"

Emma looked around, immediately noticing that they were indeed in the back of all of the second years in the class. She sighed, as that never boded well since the giant always seemed to pick the students in the back to come up as examples since he believed that 'everyone should have a fair chance to touch the creatures.' Normally she would be pleased, since she rather liked seeing them up close, however as today they were examining Flesh Eating-Slug's, Emma figured she rather fancied her fingers more.

However as luck would have it, while in the midst of her thoughts the class had pressed on and she now found herself in the direct line of sight of the giant at the dead end of the line.

"Any volunteers for today's lesson?" The immense man said with such alacrity, it almost made the blonde forget that the price of volunteering would be the loss of some very desirable flesh and a week in the hospital wing.

"Ahh, how about you in the back," the giant said, "come on you lot, make room - everyone deserves a turn!"

Emma's gulped as she clutched her fingers for what could be the very last time.

xxx

"So where were you before class today, Blondie?"

The smell of Cornish pasties and boiled potatoes wafted through the great hall as the whole of the school sat down for supper. Emma had been 'out of it' the whole day, as Ruby had put it, only now seeming somewhat responsive as she had two full sausages and a plate of hash browns down her throat.

"I said I was out," she responded. After spending the remainder of the day with Madame Pomfrey magically conjuring skin regrowth solutions for her fingers, since the Flesh Eating-Slugs had inevitably taken a liking to her taste, she had had a lot of time to think about what she had witnessed at the edge of the forest. She had decided to take more time to gather information about the oddity of the Lockesly boy before telling her best friend. She loved the girl, but she knew the first person she would turn to would be her older friend Mary Margaret, and it was her she knew she could not trust as the girl had proven she couldn't keep a secret to save her life.

It was rumored that it was for that exact reason that the Slytherin's hated Gryffindors more than usual. Ever since Emma had arrived at the school word had spread that in their 3rd year, Mary Margaret and Regina Mills had been close friends, nearly inseparable, shocking everyone that a Gryffindor and a Slytherin could get along, until one day.

The details of what had happened no one seemed to know, however the story always included a boy, a secret being told, and the infamous Cora Mills coming down to the school itself resulting in the Gryffindor girl and the Slytherin prefect never talking to each other again.

Emma chewed on her sausage, making that her third.

"I haven't seen Regina around all day." She whispered before realizing that she was vocalizing her thoughts yet again.

"Who? Regina, as in Regina Mills? Head bitch of Slytherin house. That Regina?" The wolf like girl spat, her overly large canine's showing making her look more like a creature Emma had seen in one of her read throughs of her Mythical Creatures books.

The blonde was sure that the girl was about to squirt her pumpkin juice out of her nostrils at the rate that she was speaking.

"Yeah." Emma replied noncommittally as her friend continued to blubber on. Her eyes scanned the Slytherin table, landing on the tall, platinum blonde and somewhat scary looking girl that the Slytherin prefect seemed to hang out with most. There was no Regina, however out of the corner of her eye the signature forest green of the Locksley boy's garb came into view. Making his way down the hall to his spot between the Ravenclaw quidditch team.

His hair was matted and slightly damp as if he had been outside. However no one seemed to notice as the boys around him slid over the make way for him to sit.

Emma huffed. There was something odd there.

"Emma!"

The blonde jerked back as a pair of badly manicured fingernails snapped in front of her eyes.

Emma whacked at the hand, as Ruby huffed, "You're doing it again!"

"Geeze Rubes, give me a heart attack! Gosh, you're worse than professor Snape when he goes off on whatever poor sap he feels like picking on that day - you know he gave that Leroy kid detention for a whole week for nothing!" Emma spat. However the moment the words were out of her mouth she felt her stomach plummet and not due to the overabundance of sausage residing in it.

Her friends face had gone completely white like the ghosts that sometimes roamed through the school. Ruby's wide eyes were the size of what Emma imagined professor Hagrid's dinner plates must be as they stayed trained directly above where the blonde sat.

"Interesting Miss Swan," came the voice that made Emma wish she hadn't inhaled that last sausage as it was fighting to come back upstream. "50 points from Gryffindor for that remark. And as your rewrite of your cheated essay was something below the average of a first year, you can rewrite it again, this time double the length, in the time that you've been twiddling your thumbs in detention."

Emma turned, the looming figure of the gruesome Professor Severus Snape towering directly above her, "But Professor, my detention ends in 2 days, I can't finish another rewrite by then."

She felt a sharp kick from under the table from Ruby and Emma nearly smacked herself as she felt the excuse leave her mouth.

The slimy corners of the vicious professors thin lips curled up into an almost devious smirk as if he had been waiting for her to say those exact words.

"In that case, it will be extended- for a month."

xxx

Emma's head bobbed violently as her neck snapped back up almost giving her whiplash. The dim lighting of the dungeons in which she found herself serving her detention was causing her to fall asleep. With the droning vibration of Professor Snape yet again grilling an unfortunate student playing as background noise and the wafting of an almost lavender scent from the many sleeping potions gone wrong, she figured her stone desk might make as a lovely napping spot.

However catching the eye of the black clad professor she decided against it and focused her eyes back on her paper. That was until the entire class room around her started moving. It appeared as if due to their galling incompetence, Professor Snape had condemned the 6th years to social suicide and ordered them to find new partners not of their same house. A resentful mumble of shared hatred reverberated through the room as students shuffled awkwardly towards foreign desks.

Emma put her head back down, trying once again to focus in on the double long re-rewrite of her essay that she had a month to complete. However all hope was lost when the sight of an approaching object in front of her distracted her gaze. She quickly looked up to see what was blocking her view and nearly gulped.

She could have sworn she hadn't seen the Mills girl at all in class, but there she stood in front of her. Long hair, pulled back into a french braid, as real as the 4 waffles she had eaten that morning, which were now spinning in her stomach_. 'Oh Crap,'_ she realized somewhere through her minds ramblings. The Slytherin prefect was definitely speaking to her and all she could do was gape.

"Is this seat taken?" She finally made out.

"Uh-" Emma mumbled, surprised that the girl who had been occupying her thoughts for the last few nights was standing directly in front of her, and talking to her no less, "N-no! No it's not!"

_Geeze Swan, keep your cool!_

"Perfect."

Without another word the Slytherin girl placed her book bag atop of the right side of the blondes detention desk, settling into the chair aside Emma before the Gryffindor could speak.

The 2nd years mind immediately went back to the night prior, down in the overly stuffed chair of the Gryffindor common room, where her best friend had grilled her on her insistent speaking about the brunette Slytherin.

"_Have you even spoke to her?" Ruby said, making her way through her second box of Bertie Botts Every Flavor Beans._

_Emma grabbed at the small box, dumping the small beans into her hand and sorting out the Cinnamon candies, putting the rest back._

"_No, but-" Emma didn't even know where she was going with that. She had no idea why she was so preoccupied with the whereabouts of a girl she had never even had a conversation with. Nor did she know why it had not sat well with her when she saw the Gryffindor prefect Killian spying on her while she was talking with the Locksley boy after hours. But she shook her head before she could analyze her thoughts to much more, as she was sure her merciless best friend would see to it better than she._

"_Well, does she even know you're alive? Cause if not then that definitely makes you a stalker Em, and that's not a good reputation to have."_

"_What are you talking about Rubes?"_

"_You talking about her all the time!" The girl said, through candy covered teeth. Emma had always found her friends eating habits slightly revolting. The way in which she ate everything as if it were a slab of raw meat made her stomach slightly turn. However she guessed that her friend didn't judge her habit of eating most things straight out of the jar and repeatedly abusing the double dipping rule, so she couldn't complain much. _

_"Why don't you trying saying 'hi' to her next time you decide to spy on her from a distance. Maybe your obsession will actually become less creepy."_

"_I'm not obsessed!" Emma defended, nearly shooting an unusually hot cinnamon bean out of her nose._

"_Uh-huh," Ruby said, with a knowing smile, "then say hi."_

Now sitting in the cold dungeon as the prefect girl sat directly across from her, she found herself at a loss for words.

However just as soon as she was about to verbalize a 'hello' to the girl, the booming voice of the professor rang throughout the room, interrupting her thoughts.

"Mrs. Mills, pleasure to finally see you. I'm sure you can see to it to find a partner of another house, to complete this portion with."

"Actually professor, it looks like I'm the odd one out."

Emma didn't know whether to gasp or gawk as the girl next to her spoke back to the feared potions professor. She knew she was of the Professors own house, but no one, not even the other teachers usually dared speak back to Professor Snape.

"I'll sit here and work by myself as a punishment for my tardiness, if you wish."

The potions master looked as perplexed as Emma had ever seen him. It was if a massive war of emotions were going on right behind his eyes. Emma couldn't tell what he looked more, angered or flabbergasted.

It wasn't until the words slithered cooly out of his mouth that she remembered to breathe.

"As luck would have it, I have a different assignment for you entirely," he replied cooly.

And with that the professor turned, the heavy black robes that he wore sweeping the ground behind him as he made his way over to the shelves behind his desk and then back to the table in which they sat, setting down a heavy book with a soft 'thunk'.

Dusting off the pages with a flick of his wrist, he opened the large book to a distinct page and Emma watched as the girl next to her paled.

"Think you can manage to create one of these." He said with a snarl.

The Slytherin prefect whose face was usually tanned, turned ashen white as she seemed to nod slowly out of a haze.

"I'm sure you can locate all of the necessary ingredients, however, If you find some to rare, I'm sure Madame Pomfrey maybe be able to supply you with _parts_."

Emma blinked, not sure if she was more confused by the out of character response from the unflappably bad mooded professor or the sudden 360 in confidence in the older girl next to her.

The sneer on the black clad man's face grew ever so slightly and his usually soulless eyes seemed to enlarge as he rounded away from them.

Emma glanced over as the sound of muffled whispers were silenced and everyone in the room looked away from the odd scene, pretending to be working instead. The professor had walked away, leaving the large book open and the raven haired girl who now seemed to resemble the seen white glow of a ghost had not shut it.

In the utmost corner of the tattered parchment in a messy handwritten scrawl read two words.

_Letum Leporidae._


End file.
